The boys water polo team lost to Los Gatos 5-14 in the second round of CCS today, November 12. With the loss, Los Altos ended their 2015 season second place in the De-Anza SCVAL league and in the second round of CCS.

The game started with two quick goals from Los Gatos putting the score at 0-2. Later on in the quarter, sophomores Kyle Sandell and Eric Warmoth both scored two  goals to even the score at 2-2.  However, the Eagles were unable to hold back the Los Gatos defense as the Wildcats scored two more times before quarter ended with the Eagles down 2-4.

The second quarter did not see any offensive action from Los Altos as the Wildcats scored five unanswered goals to finish the first half of the game 2-9.

Switching sides, the Eagles immediately gave away another four goals to the Wildcats, but scored one of their own during a 6-on-5 opportunity where Eric passed the ball to Kyle on the post for a goal to bring the score to 3-13 at the end of the third quarter.

The fourth quarter began with many steals for the Eagles, but they failed to capitalize on their counters. Senior captain Jim Hollingworth scored a high corner shot from set, but the Wildcats were quick to answer with a goal of their own to further their lead of 4-14. Sophomore Connor Brett deflected two back-to-back shot attempts from the Wildcats, which lead to Jim being able to get the Wildcats’ goalie ejected for senior Patrick Fong to finish the play with a goal to end the game at 5-14.

The biggest flaw in the Eagle’s performance proved to be their defense. Los Altos struggled to communicate among each other to keep up with Los Gatos’ speed and physicality, thus allowing the Wildcats to be successful.

“I think we did not come out with the heart we needed and we were not fired up and playing to win,” Kyle said. “I also think we were not playing smart.”

At the beginning of the season, Los Altos’ biggest goal was to place top four in their league in order to qualify for CCS, and the Eagles did just that. They managed to place second in the league and even took the eighth seed at CCS, however, the loss was the Eagles’ last game of the season, and they finished with an overall record of 9-17.

With a generally young team and only two seniors—Jim and Patrick—the Eagles look back on the season in a positive light and look forward to next year’s season for an even better performance.

“As for the game, I do not think we went out with everything we had and the heart we needed to play with,” Kyle said. “For the season, I believe that we did better than we could have ever hoped for. Taking second in the league is an amazing improvement from taking fifth last year, especially considering that we are such a young team compared to the others in our league.”